The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 804, 25 April 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1871.

The probability that the cession of Alsace and Lorraine will not be insisted upon by Germany is most welcome intelligence, scarcely secondary in importance to that of a cessation of hostilities and the declaration of peace. The condition of those provinces, if annexed to Germany, would, indeed, be a hopeless one, and such as must command the sympathy of all civilized nations. The territory must be held as one thoroughly hostile, and, unless there were a complete emigration of the population, they would have to submit' to a tyranny harder even th; n that of Poland in the efforts to stamp out their nationality, find to weld them into the German Empire. France t have peace and yet remain France, but for Alsace and Lorraine the future, if ceded to Germany, would present

only hopeless despair. As eveuts proceeded there would bo bitter hatred and angry defiance, resulting in terrible reprisals and more exacting tyranny. We do not suppose that any sentimentality has induced Count Bismarck to substitute a money indemnity in the place of this territory. The moderation in the German demands is due rather to a knowledge of the difficulties that would attend the construction of a Poland in the West.

The advocates of annexation say that their possession is necessary to the security of Germany. They should have said that their possession was the most certain guarantee of the most serious complications. The more reasonable demands of Germany give rise to a hope that future troubles, arising out of the war, may be averted, and in this light may be viewed with satisfaction by European nations. The sentiments expressed by General Chanzy, when the original terms were made known, would be those almost generally shared by the French nation: —" Let us accept the conditions, forced upon us by unparallelled misfortune, and postpone our revenge until the population of the West is unanimous in its desire to drive the enemy from French territory; until the troops are animated by a better spirit, and discipline together with patriotism have commenced the work of regeneration." Assuredly if Germany consult her own interests she will desire a permanent peace, but to be such it must be arranegd on terms involving no dishonour to the conquered. The conditions should distinctly reflect this feeling, and should be free from auy appearance of the lust of conquest or revenge. Any peace wanting in these considerations must speedily give place to an outbreak of hostilities in which France would hold a very altered position. Germany can testifyto the resistance the French people have offered since the Imperial Armies were swept away and taken captive; and although the hastily levied forces have been proved not to contain the necessary element for continuing the war successfully, that which is wanting to them in war would be immediately supplied to them in peace. The return of the captive armies and the garrison of Paris would alone give a force of half a million of men, and what a material for renewed preparations for war would be thus supplied may be readily imagined if we consider what colossal bodies of men the French, within a few weeks after the reverses at Sedan and Metz, brought into the field. It does not necessarily follow from the overwhelming majority of the votes in the Assembly in favour of peace that it would be a durable one. It might have happened that the most anxious to accept the severest terms were precisely those who, in a thirst for vengeance, looked forward to the early resumption of hostilities ; and the return of the French armies would have soon afforded the opportunity to renew the war on a scale of greater magnitude than the terrible conflict that has just closed. To hold Alsace and Lorraine Germany must ever hold herself in readiness for war, and every other European power must tax its resources in preparation for coming dangers. In relinquishing their hold on those provinces we recognise a desire, on the part of Germany, to make the peace a durable one, and this could not have been secured by any terms which involved the hostile occupation of the territory of upwards of three millions of Frenchmen and the disintegration of France.